The Air Force has awarded Bronze Star medals to Lt. Col. Marc Cherry and Capt. Richard Glade for their actions while deployed to Southwest Asia. During a year-long deployment, Cherry served as deputy director of the combat operations division of the 609th Air and Space Operations Center, where he helped synchronize over Iraq and Afghanistan more than 74,000 sorties, including employing 48 aircraft to resolve a 64-hour troops-in-contact engagement in Afghanistan. During a six-month deployment to Iraq, Glade served as a Joint Task Force information operations cell intelligence officer. Lt. Gen. Glenn Spears, commander of 12th Air Force, presented the medals to both officers earlier this month. (12th AF photo release by SrA. Jacqueline Romero)
A legislative standoff has led to a lapse in a $4.26 billion small business innovation contracting program widely used by the Air Force and could spell the end of it entirely, industry sources warned Air & Space Forces Magazine.
